Visible file



R. E. BAUDER VISIBLE FILE Filed Aug. 2, 1930 2 Sheets-She et 1 INVENTOR. RA Y E. 3/4 UB5 R ATTORNEY.)-

R. E. BAUDER Sept, 15 1931.

VISIBLE FILE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 2, 1930 INVENTOR. RAY 5.540052? ATTORNEYS:

Patented Sept. 15, 1931 RAY E. BAUDER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS VISIBLE FILE Application filed August 2, 1930. Serial No. 472,576.

This invention relates to a visible filing system and equipment therefor.

One object of my invention is to provide a container having a sight opening in its front wall whereby the memoranda filed in the con tainer will be visible through the sight opening as brought adjacent the'same in the use of the file without requiring the removal or withdrawal of the container from its enclos- 1 ing cabinet or casing.

Another object of my invention is to provide novel folders for use in such container whereby the memoranda to be filed in the containers may be inserted in the folders.

A further object of my invention is to provide the folders with translucent or transparent front walls whereby the memoranda behind the same will be visible through said walls as the folders are brought adjacent to the sight opening.

A further object of my invention is to make the rear walls of the folders opaque so as to provide suitable background for the memoranda therein and to render invisible all folders behind the one at the sight opening.

A further object of my invention is to provide the folders with indicia of the character required for the system with which the folders are used, so that such indicia will be visible through the sight opening of the container as the folders are brought opposite the same.

A further object of my invention is to have the indicia arranged on both front and rear walls of the folders so that the presence of memoranda within the folders will be forcibly indicated by the breaking up or disturbing of the continuity of the indicia on said walls.

A still further object of my invention is to provide the casing for the container with changeable indicia associated with that on the folders so that the file may serve as a daily or other reminder by which matters requiring attention at stated intervals or predetermined periods of time may be attended to when required.

The invention consists further in the matters hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a file cabinet of the single drawer type embodying the features of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar view with one corner of the cabinet broken away to show the indicating tape or band to be hereinafter referred to;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the front of the drawer, a portion of which is broken away for illustrative purposes;

Fig. 4 is a top plan of the drawer removed from its casing to show the folder-supporting means therein;

Figs. 5 and 6 are perspective views of one of the folders in set-up form, memoranda being inserted in the folder in Fig. 6, and omitted in Fig. 5; and I Fig. 7 shows a folder in spread-out or blank form.

In the drawings, 1 indicates a file box or cabinet of a type having a single sliding drawer 2. The front wall 3 of the drawer is of a size'to completely close the opening at the front of the box when the drawer is closed as usual in equipment of this kind. The wall 3 is provided within its margins with an opening 4 which may or may not contain a transparent cover 5 depending upon how much protection is desired for the contents of the drawer. In the drawings, I have shown a glass cover 5 fitted within the opening 4, although celluloid or other transparent material may be used, if desired.

In the drawer are a number of folders 6, 6 each of a size to fit within and stand substantially upright in the drawer when in use. Each folder, in accordance with my invention, comprises front and rear walls 7, 8 of substantially the same size and shape and a laterally narrowconnecting wall 9. The latter is at the base or lower edge of folder and forms a flat bottom wall therefor on which the folder rests when placed in the drawer. In the drawings, I have illustrated the walls integrally connected, being madefrom a single blank as shown in Fig. 7, although the walls-may be made separate and afterwards joined in any suitable manner to make the folder a single unit. When made from a blank, the sheet material is scored to divide the blank into the requisite sections for the walls 7, 8 and 9.

It is preferred to make the folders of translucent material, such as celluloid, the front wall 7 being left translucent or transparent if material of that character is employed. The rear wall 8 is colored or otherwise treated or prepared to make it opaque or semi-opaque as indicated by the shading in Figs. 5 to 7.

Printed on the front wall 7, on either its front or rear face, in double outline or open form is a relatively large character 10, preferably a figure, such as 28 indicative of the day of the month. A similar character 11 is printed on the rear wall 8 in closed or'solid form and positioned to register with the outline of the character on the front wall 7 when the folder is set up for use. It is'essential that the solid figure 11 be printed in a color contrasting to that of the color-of the background afl'orded' by rear wall 8 so that the figure 11 will be readily visible through the translucent wall 7 when, there is nothing between the walls to cover or hide the figure on the background, as shown in Figs.v 1 and 5.

In use, the folders 6 are placed in upright position in the drawer 2, one behind the other,

with their front walls 7 foremost; Whenthe.

The bottom walls 9 will also normally keep.

the front and rear walls 7, 8 of the respective folders sufficiently apart to provide pockets between them to receive memoranda, such as slips of paper or cards 12 which may be dropped into the pockets through the open upper ends of the folders without the necessity of fingering the folders to open them.

To facilitate locatingthe folders in the drawer for dropping memoranda into the same without being required to lift the folders from the drawer or spread them apart to see the indicias on their front or rear walls, I provide the rear wall 8 ofeach folder with an upstanding integral. tab 13 at its upper-edge on which is printed or otherwise applied a number or otherindex correspondingtothat onthe body of the folder, as clearly shown in Figs. 5'to 7. The folders stand upright in the drawer by reason of the stiffness of the material of which they are made and also due to the support-afforded by the side walls 14,

14 of the drawer with which the folders conwall f the folder and be thrown out into visible relief 'by the background; provided: by the opaque rear wall 8, as indicated-in Fig. 6.

The memoranda within the file call attention to themselves forcibly by the breaking up of the color combination employed in the printing of the indicia. This is an important feature of my invention and is well illustrated in Fig. 6. As there shown, the memoranda 12 extend over a portion ofthe solid figure 11 on the-rear wall 8 of the folder and thus breaks the continuity of the figure through the double outline 10 on the front wall 7 0f the folder. This calls attention to the fact that there are memoranda in the folder and advises the user of the file that the date folder in view through the opening a in the front wall of the drawer need's attention, on the date displayed by the folder. The folders will be-adjusted from day to day to position the current folder at the opening-in the front of the drawer and as the folders containing memoranda appear, the user of the file may attend to the same on the date set for the purpose. Because of the opaqueness of the rear Walls 8 of the folders, any memoranda in the folders for the succeeding days will not be revealed through the opening at the front of the drawer and-thus only the memorandum in the current folder will be visible through the front of the drawer. If at any time memoranda for several days are required to be visible through the front ofthe drawer folders having both transparent front and rear sections may be employed.

To assist in holding the folders in upright position in the drawer, I may provide the side walls 1 1, 14 of the drawer with inwardly extending prongs or projectionslfi, 15,,preferably pressed inward from the metal of the walls and arranged to permit the folders to ratchet over them as the folders are moved forward in bringing the current date folder toview at the opening at the front of the drawer. The prongs in pointing forward offer resistance-to any backwardimovementto the folders and thus hold them upright for the insertion of the material to be filed. in

. them and also for holding the current folder upright at the opening at the front of the drawer for clear display of the date thereon and the memoranda therein.

The box or cabinet 1 is provided in its front wall with openings 16, 17, on opposite sides of the drawer 2. Behind these openings are moved endless tapes or bands 18, 19, one for each opening, and. on which are printed the names of the months and the names of the days of a week, respectively, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The tapes aresupported by and arranged over suitablerolls mounted in the box in a manner to'permit the tapes to be moved to present the desired day and month designations at the openings so as to indicate theparticular month and the days thereof for which the folders are being used. Each tape is: movable by a thumb wheel 20. ar-

ranged for access from the exterior of the cabinet as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

W hile I have shown and described herein the folders marked with numbers representative of days of a month, it is to be of course understood that other indicia could be marked on the folders depending on the nature of the filing system with which the folders are to be used. In an alphabetical system, the folders would be marked with letters or combinations of letters, whereas in some other system the indicia required for such a system would be employed. The feature of having the front walls of folders translucent or transparent would be employed for all systems because of the visibility rendered for the memoranda or memorandum contained in the pockets provided by the folders. As a daily visible reminder, the visible feature afforded by the folders is an efiective one, especially when used with a drawer or container having an opening in its front wall so that the folders will be visible without opening the drawer as the folders come to View at the opening. The folders are simple in construction, easy and inexpensive to make and install, and usable in the manner of the regular filing systems. This feature in itself is an advantage because the user is not required to master a new or complicated system.

The details of structure and arrangement of parts shown and described may be variously changed and modified without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A folder for use in a filing system, comprising front and rear walls connected together to form a memoranda-receiving pocket, one of said walls being translucent to render visible therethrough the memoranda in the pocket, said wall having indicia thereon.

2. A folder for use in a filing system, comprising front and rear walls connected together to form a memoranda-receiving pocket, one of said walls being translucent to render visible therethrough the memoranda in the ocket said wall havin indicia thereon in double outline.

3. A folder for use in a filing system, comprising front and rear walls connected together to form a memoranda-receiving pocket, one wall being translucent and the other opaque, said walls having similar in dicia thereon arranged to register when the folder is set up for use.

4. A folder for use in a filing system, comprising front and rear walls connected together to form a memoranda-receiving pocket, one wall being translucent and the other opaque, said walls having similar indicia thereon arranged to register when the folder is set up for use, the indicia on the respective walls being in open and closed form, respectively.

5. A folder for use in filing system, comprising front and rear walls connected together to form a memoranda-receiving pocket, the front wall being translucent and the rear wall being opaque, said walls having similar indiciathereon arranged to register when the folder is set up for use, the indicia on the front wall being indouble outline and the indicia on the rear wall being in solid form.

r 6. A folder for use in a filing system, comprising front and rear walls connected together to form a memoranda-receiving pocket, the front wall being translucent and having indicia thereon, and a tab on the rear wall and projecting beyond the same, said tab having indicia thereon correspond-- ing to those on the front wall.

7. A folder for use in a filing system, comprising front and rear walls and a relatively narrow connecting wall located at the lower edge of the folder and providing a base there for and a spacer for the front and. rear walls, one of said walls being translucent and the other opaque.

8. A container adapted for use in a filing system, and havinga front wall'with a sight opening therein, and means in the container adapted to receive a sheet of memoranda and to display the same through said sight opening as the sheet is brought adjacent thereto.

9. A container adapted for use in a filing system, and having a front wall with a sight opening therein, and means in the container for separating memorandafiled therein into groups, said means being translucent and rendering visible through the sight opening men'ioranda of the first group as the latter are brought opposite the sight opening.

10. A container adapted for use in a filing system, and having a front wall with a sight opening therein, and folders in the container having connected front and rear walls forming pockets to receive memoranda, the front walls of the folders being translucent to render isible through the sight opening the memoranda in a folder as it is brought opmemoranda in a folder as it is brought op-- posite the sight opening, the rear walls of the folders being opaque to render invisible through the sight opening the memoranda in those folders to the rear of the one at the sight opening.

12. A file cabinet, comprising a casing, a container thereinand having a sight opening in its front Wall, separators in the container for separating memoranda filed therein into groups and having indicia visible through said sight opening as the separators are brought opposite the same in the use of the file, and a changeable indicator at the front of the casing and having indicia thereon associated with those on the separators.

13. A file cabinet, comprising a casing, a container therein and having a sight opening in its front wall, separators in the container for separating mem'oranda filed therein into groups and having indicia visible through said sight opening as the separators are brought opposite the same in the use of the file, a movable tape carried by the container at the front of the same and having indicia thereon associated with those on the separators, and means whereby the tape may be moved.

14. A file cabinet, comprising a casing, a container therein and having a sight opening in its front wall, separators in the container for separating memoranda filed therein into groups and having indicia visible through said sight opening as the separators are brought opposite the same in the use of the file, and a changeable indicator at the front f the casing and having indicia thereon associated with those on the separators, said separators being translucent to make visible therethrough the presence of memoranda behind the same.

15. A file cabinet serving as a daily remainder, comprising a casing, a container therein and having a sight opening in its front wall, separators in the container for separating memoranda therein into groups, there being a separator for each day of a month and having a number thereon representative of the day of the month and visible through said sight opening as a separator is brought opposite the same in the use of the file, and a changeable indicator at the front of the container and usable with said separators, said indicator having indicia thereon representative of the names of the months and the names of the days of a week, respectively.

16. A folder for use in a filing system formed from a blank of translucent sheet material and divided into a number of sections constituting the front, rear and connecting walls of the folder, the section forming the front wall being left translucent while the section forming the rear wall is treated to render it opaque. p

17. A folder for use in a filling system formed from a blank of translucent sheet material and divided into a number of sections constituting the front, rear and connecting walls of the folder, the section forming the front Wall being left translucent, while the section forming the rear wall is treated to render it opaque, said front and rear walls having corresponding indicia thereon diS- posed to register when the folder is Set up for use. 7.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

RAY E. BAUDER. 

